Halliburton Company (HAL) Getting Positive Attention From Analysts

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), one of the world’s largest oil field services companies, just topped Street expectations as its shares climbed to an all -time high on Monday. A year ago the company was suffering from charges related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, but now the company is making its way back to the top. CEO David Lesar even said, “I’m starting to feel the turn. We don’t think we’ll have any problem filling our frac calendar through the end of the year.”

Goldman Sachs analyst Waqar Syed also responded to the company’s good news with a BUY rating and a $72 price target. Waqar noted, “We estimate that weak NAM margins were driven by weather-related activity disruptions, and we expect strong margin improvement as normal activity returns in 2Q14 and 3Q14.” He added that “NAM revenue growth during the remainder of the year should be very strong. LatAm margins were better than expected, and that should placate some, who thought that weakness in Brazil would weigh on the results. Europe/CIS/West Africa was in line with expectations, while the Middle East/Asia was a touch better.”

This is not the first time Waqar has recommended HAL. And in fact, his successful Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) recommendations have helped him earn a spot as the 171 analyst out of 3017 analysts, with a +5.4% average return over S&P-500 and a 73% success rate of recommendations. To review all of Waqar’s recommendations, download TipRanks.

Back in August 2013, Waqar maintained his conviction BUY on Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), saying, “HAL has differentiated itself within NAM land through its superior logistics operation and is a primary beneficiary of the deepwater activity pickup globally.” This recommendation ended up earning Waqar +3.6% over S&P-500.

Earlier this year, on January 16, Waqar recommended BUY HAL and earned +4.5% over S&P-500.

Just after this recommendation, Waqar maintained his BUY rating based on recent gas price strength and “positive commentary from PTEN on US rig and pressure pumping markets.” Waqar highlighted major growth points, saying, “we have recently seen a pick-up in land drilling activity in the Middle East, but more is set to come. Anecdotal evidence from drilling contractors points to pick up in activity in the Middle East. The Middle East/Asia region is the highest margin area for HAL, with the company generating 17.3 percent margins there versus 13.4 percent and 13.5 percent in ECA (Europe/CIS/W. Africa) and LAM (Latin America) regions. It is positive for HAL that we expect Middle East/Asia to be the highest growth international area in 2014, with its major market, Saudi Arabia, driving the growth.” Waqar ended up with +17.3% over S&P-500.

Now that Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) has hit a high, do you think the stock will keep climbing? Waqar does have a 100% success rate recommending HAL, but do you trust that he will stay on this route? To learn more about Waqar’s other recommendations, be sure to download TipRanks, and start making informed financial decisions with advice you can trust.